Luther Said...

Mom and Dad - Love and Honor

To the estate of fatherhood and motherhood God has given the distinction above all lower estates that He commands us not only to love our parents but also to honor them. For concerning brothers, sisters, and our neighbors in general He commands nothing higher than that we love them. In this way he sets father and mother apart, distinguishes them above all other persons on earth, and places them at His side. For to honor a person is a far higher matter than to love him; because honor deos not comprise love alone but also deference, humility, and awe, as if we were in the presence of majesty there hidden. Nor does honor require that we merely address parents kindly and reverently, but that, both in our hearts and in our actions, we show and make it clear that we esteem them highly and, next to God, consider them supreme. For one whom we are sincerely to honor we must truly consider exalted and important. Therefore we must train young people to look upon their parents as God's representatives and to remember that even though they are lowly, poor, frail, and peculiar, they are still the father and mother whom God gave them. They are not to be robbed of their honor because of their conduct and failings. Therefore we are not to look at the kind of persons they are but at God's will, which has made and ordained it so. In other respects we are, of course, all alike in the eyes of God. WHAT LUTHER SAYS - # 3247.